Pacific Heights (film)

Plot summary

Carter Hayes (Michael Keaton) is in bed with a woman, Ann Miller (Beverly D'Angelo), when he is suddenly attacked and beaten by two men. After the men have left, Hayes calmly tells Ann, "The worst is over".

The scene shifts to San Francisco, where an unmarried couple, Drake Goodman (Modine) and Patty Palmer (Griffith), purchase an expensive 19th-century polychrome house in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood. They rent one of the building's two first-floor apartments to the Watanabes, a kindly Japanese couple. Soon after, Hayes visits to view the remaining vacant unit and immediately expresses a desire to move in. Hayes drives an expensive Porsche and carries large amounts of cash on his person, but is reluctant to undergo a credit check. He convinces Drake to waive the credit check in exchange for a list of references and an upfront payment of the first six months' rent, to be paid by wire transfer.

Before any of this money is paid, however, Hayes arrives unannounced one morning and shuts himself into the apartment. As the days pass, Hayes' promised wire transfer fails to materialize. From inside the apartment, sounds of loud hammering and drilling are heard at all hours of the day and night, however the door is seldom answered. When Drake finally makes an attempt to enter Hayes' apartment, he finds that the locks have been changed. Drake attempts to put an end to the constant noise and drive out Hayes by cutting the electricity and heat to the apartment, but Hayes summons the police, who side with Hayes and reprimand Drake.

Drake and Patty hire a lawyer, Stephanie MacDonald (Laurie Metcalf), however the eviction case is thwarted by Drake's actions. Hayes, safe from eviction for the time being, infests the house with cockroaches, which prompts the Watanabes to move out and pushes Drake and Patty further into debt. The heavy stress takes its toll on the couple; Drake drinks heavily and Patty suffers a miscarriage. Hayes visits the couple to offer his condolences, but an infuriated Drake attacks him and is arrested by the police, whom Hayes had already called to the scene in anticipation of an assault.

The assault allows Hayes to file a civil lawsuit against Drake and, unbeknownst to the couple, assume control of Drake's possessions and identity. Hayes also files a restraining order, which forces Drake from the building. Once Drake is gone, Hayes begins stalking and harassing Patty, in an apparent ploy to lure Drake back to the building in violation of the restraining order. The ploy succeeds, as Drake becomes concerned and comes to check on Patty. Hayes confronts Drake and shoots him, then plants a crowbar at the scene to prevent any criminal charges.

While Drake is in the hospital, the eviction is finally handed down and authorities force entry into Hayes' apartment. By this time however, Hayes has disappeared, and the apartment has been destroyed and stripped bare of all its appliances, light fixtures, wood paneling, and even the toilet. Later, while cleaning out the destroyed apartment, Patty finds an important clue: an old photograph of Hayes as a young boy. Written on the back is the name "James Danforth", which Patty deduces is Hayes' real name. She phones Bennett Fidlow (Jerry Hardin), the Texas attorney whom Danforth had provided as a reference (albeit under his Hayes alias). Fidlow confides to her that Danforth has a long history of wrongdoing and has been disowned by his family.

Patty travels to Danforth's last-known address, a condominium in Desert Spring. There she finds Ann, his girlfriend and previous co-conspirator who had earlier come looking for him in San Francisco. Ann tells Patty that Carter Hayes is the name of the property's former landlord, and that Danforth assumed Hayes' identity and took possession of the condominium after (the genuine) Hayes hired two thugs to carry out the assault shown in the film's opening scene. Ann also shows Patty a postcard from Danforth, written on the letterhead of a hotel in Century City, which had just arrived the day before.

Patty tracks down Danforth at the hotel, where he has checked in under Drake's name. Patty bluffs her way into his suite by posing as his wife, and while rummaging through his personal effects she discovers he is using legal and financial documents in Drake's name. She calls Drake and tells him to cancel all of his credit cards and freeze the couple's joint bank account. She then places an exorbitant order for room service, which leads to Danforth being arrested.

Danforth is bailed out of prison by a wealthy widow, Florence Peters (played by Hedren), whom he was apparently vetting to be his next victim. Once out on bail, Danforth returns to San Francisco to seek revenge against Patty and Drake. Upstairs, he bludgeons Drake with a golf club, then attacks Patty in the downstairs apartment where she is busy making repairs. A struggle ensues, and a badly-wounded Drake makes his way into the crawl space between the basement and the first-floor apartment. He reaches through a hole in the floor and grabs Danforth by the ankle; Danforth loses his balance and is killed when he falls backward and is impaled by a water supply line.

Some time later, Patty and Drake have put their newly repaired building up for sale and show the property to another couple. The story ends with the couple having a private discussion about making an offer of $850,000, which is $100,000 more than what Drake and Patty had originally paid for it.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics and has a 43% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator site, with 10 out of 23 critics giving the film a positive review. Janet Maslin of The New York Times characterized the film as "perhaps the first eviction thriller," writing that it "taps into a previously unexplored subject, the source of so much excitement and so many conversational gambits within young urban professional circles. It is, of course, real estate." Roger Ebert called the film "a horror film for yuppies", and said the script relied on too many horror clichés. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly agreed, writing, "the actors are stranded with a perfunctory, deadwood script that's all concept and no follow-through." Desson Howe of The Washington Post summed up the film this way: "This is a yuppie conceit; this is not interesting to human beings."

However, Chris Hicks of the Salt Lake City Deseret News was among the critics who praised the acting, especially of Keaton, and found enjoyment in having Patty getting her revenge on a man who had manipulated the law to wreck her dreams and hurt the man she loved. In contrast, the Washington Post's Howe criticized Modine's acting, remarking that as he "... goes from clean cut boyfriend to arrested, frothing debtor in screen minutes, loses his cool so easily and maniacally, you wonder if he'll turn out to be the real psycho."

This film was listed as No. 93 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

Location

The story location for the film is the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco. However, the actual film location for Drake and Patty's house is in Potrero Hill in San Francisco, specifically at the corner of 19th and Texas Street. Other portions of the film were shot in Palm Springs, California.

DVD

The DVD edition of the film was released in 1999 by Warner Home Video and includes only a trailer for the film.